#prayersformanchester

Being Helpful.

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start when you want to be helpful in times of tragedy. Right now, Ariana Grande – Frankie’s sister - is going through a very difficult time having to deal with the act of terror that followed her concert in Manchester on May 22. The lives lost and those injured were all beautiful souls and as the stories pour out about their passions and who they were/are as people, it has been both heartbreaking and inspiring. Ariana’s concerts are always full of love and acceptance, fun and great times. Now that someone has tried to shatter her world, the world of her fans and their loved ones, and the world of concert goers and artists everywhere – it’s hard to know how to feel… and how to react.

I think that’s okay. I personally have felt both sad and extremely terrified every day over this – especially because it hits so close to Frankie. He is always the protective one in his family, the one who takes care of them when they are being yelled at by French police, the one who makes Ariana laugh constantly, the one who regularly has dinner with his Nonna and her friends at their senior citizen community… My heart breaks for Frankie as I’m sure he hates that he can’t quite fix this situation for them but I also know that all of them being together is the best thing they can all do. I hope they are healing even as I type these words. I wish their family all the love and serenity in the world. Seeing the statement Ariana released yesterday made me so hopeful that she, her family and team are going to come through this stronger than ever. And it also was a beautiful statement of strength over fear.

So for those of us who don’t live near Manchester, and can’t bring flowers and attend vigils, what can we do to be helpful?

We can donate blood to our local Red Cross, so that if disasters like this happen, our areas are already well prepared.

We can donate money specifically to the British Red Cross Society. They have set up an emergency fund to help both the deceased victims’ families and the physically injured.

We can try to drown out some of the hate in both Frankie and Ariana’s mentions. There are many hateful people targeting them on social media for past incidents, for Frankie being gay, for Ariana having an empowering message, for anything people can say is the cause of the attack. These people are misguided and disgusting and sometimes, many of us can’t help but respond – I know I do at times. But when we choose to respond and correct people, let’s try to remember to REMOVE Ariana and others from the threads. It’s better to have a troll ranting about them, then to them.

We can also keep posting love. The more we post love, the more we drown out the hate. Let’s never forget about the ones who lost their lives in this tragic incident. I love hearing their stories, seeing their photos, seeing the connections they made on this earth. It’s always heartbreaking to think of them, but we just can’t forget. Ever. We are still alive and I hope we all live our lives to the fullest for the ones who no longer can.